OBAMA AT THE WHEEL

All those upscale houses in my area with their Obama signs reminds me of the old H.L. Mencken line, "Democracy is that system wherein the public gets what it wants,......good and hard." The same public that voted both Bill Clinton and George Bush two terms a piece, is about to elect a man because he is Black, slick, and went to Harvard. They see him as a champion of reform despite his emergence from Chicago Ghetto politics. They also see him as a post racial healer despite his total rejection of his own white heritage and in the face of his total abandonment by his black father. They find him honest and convincing despite his refusal to answer simple questions or delineate any program what so ever. Clearly they must feel that they owe the election to him, as a show of good faith. They will in due course see what their good faith brings them.

And yet, I think his presidency could be a very good thing. And this is why.

• He will inherit a Trillion Dollar deficit from the currant occupant of the White House, who ran the country into the ground posing as a conservative. On his first day in office Obama will preside over a bankrupt administration. I see no way for him to either tax or cut enough to avoid serious pain to Democratic groups. The public at large is in for a bumpy ride and I enjoy the image of him "Driving Miss Daisey" in a cab with no shocks.
  
• He will rid us of the ghastly Neoconservatives. They will try to worm their way into the administration but I credit Obama as an opportunist to recognize fellow opportunists and freeze them out for the good of his own survival. They will just have to sit it out at the American Enterprise Institute, writing position papers no one will read. One can hope that since they are no longer courtiers with entree to the court, Murdock may drop the Weekly Standard as a bad business proposition.
  
• Apart from the banishment of the neocon's, one can hope that the Republican Party will spend its wilderness years treating itself to a much needed enema, purging that legion of hipsters, mountebanks and humbugs that have been along for the ride since the Reagan years. The congressional class of 1994 sold itself to the public as small government reformers and ended up champion log rollers, pork servers and general sleazes. A few years out of office may concentrate their minds on how to fill their bellies while keeping their promises. Perhaps some competent Republican governors will emerge who will show creative leadership in hard times.
  
• Obama is no true radical. But he is a typical product of elite academia. Which is to say that he has no idea how things are actually done. He will flounder for the first year or two of his administration. He will be unable to effect any of his "Change you can believe in" without the approval of a Democrat Congress, that is venial beyond belief. From my observation of his management style, he is no team player. He is aloof, secretive and controlling. My prediction is that he will have a Jimmy Carter style relationship with Congress. I will personally enjoy watching the petty bickering over a much diminished pie.
• The media elite foisted this inexperienced man on a stupid public. What will they say when he fails? Republicans will be as rare as Okapis. Who will be blamed for the failure of the golden boy!
• As the first Black President he will be under tremendous pressure to appoint hordes of "his people" to federal posts. In a depression/recession he will be hard put to do so. He will also be under extreme pressure to open the public coffers to other traditional democratic constituencies, such as feminists, perverts, cripples, wet-backs, criminals and groups as yet unheard of. If he rewards them all, he can only do so by inflating the currency and sinking the economy. If he isn't sufficiently generous, he will be afflicted with swarms of gnat-like Dennis Kucinach's, all attacking from his left.
  

One thought troubles the mind. As his crowning act of buffoonery, Bush has partially nationalized the Banks. It's frightening to imagine Team Obama's with a key to the private wealth of our society at large. Considering that it was government corruption of the real estate market that got us into this mess, the prospect of further left wing tinkering with the nations banks is chilling. It's the economic equivalent of parking your Rolls Royce in a bad neighborhood with the key in the ignition. Someone just might drive it all the way to Zimbabwe.